Which book are you currently reading?

[FoolKiller]

I'm currently on the audiobook of "Shrinkage: manhood, marriage, and the tumor that tried to kill me" by Bryan Bishop. Adam Carolla fans may know him affectionately as Bald Bryan.

This is a really good book, particularly if you or a loved one have death with serious medical issues. Many of the stories sound familiar, with only the minor details altered.

 

[GBO Possum]

This is excellent, and a worthy companion to "All Corvettes are Red", which was the story of the C5.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Thought I should read it as a bunch of my mates are now junior docs.

 

[86Debris86]

Every time I think my work hours are bad I think of junior Doctors. So much respect for them.

(Not just for the long hours of course).

 

[35mm]

Just started this yesterday:

John Green - Looking For Alaska​

I'm at 15% and I just hope it's as good it was until now.

 

[daan]

Enjoying reading this.

It's really well written and a good laugh.

 

[35mm]

Much to my dismay, "Looking for Alaska" went from a great, fun book to a very boring one. Just like that. A shame, really.

I've now started this:

Jeff Lindsay - Dexter's Final Cut​

If I'm not mistaken, this is the 7th book of the series. Although the quality of these books has been going slowly down, they're always a nice, light read.

 

[photonrider]

It's a most delicious feeling when one picks up a book and discovers a new author, and this happened to me recently.
As I mentioned, my main fodder is reference or text books, having given up munching on fiction since lately fiction turned out to be nothing but cookie-cutter production.

Then I pick this novel up and read what some of the other authors (that I have trusted to generate some fairly decent fiction in the past) have to say about this guy, Neil Gaiman:

"Original, engrossing, and endlessly inventive. ..." George R.R. Martin.
"Gaiman is a treasure house . . . we are lucky to have him." Stephen King.

And so on . . .

So I started the book. And stopped reading everything else till I had finished it - which is unusual for me since I'm always reading something somewhere, and have several books on the go all over my life - I actually carried this around with me!

Damnably enjoyable. I'm looking forward to reading him again.

Good job, Neil. Thanks. 👍

 

[35mm]

I have two or three books that I already want to read next, but I might just give that a try, @photonrider. 👍

 

[fatman_5050]

Good to know it's a good read, @photonrider. I have that sitting on a bookshelf now, along with Gaiman's Neverwhere and Anansi Boys still to read, and a copy of The Ocean at the End of the Lane that I won in a Goodreads giveaway being shipped soon. For the avid reader, I'd recommend Goodreads - join the site, add the books you've liked, and it'll give you recommendations based on that. Plus there are a ton of giveaways from publishers and bookstores looking for, but not requiring, an honest review.

I just finished Inca Gold by Clive Cussler. It's the first Cussler book I've read, and I thought it was a really good; good pace, interesting characters and story. The brief statement on the cover grabbed my interest, it sounded like it could be the plot of an Uncharted video game. It was a good mix of action and adventure that I found enjoyable, similar to the Tom Clancy and Stephen Coonts books I've read and liked. I picked it up from a local used book store a month or so ago based on the synopsis on the back. After reading the first half, I went back last weekend to see if they had any more of his works. Since they were in the middle of a $10 "all you can fit in a bag" sale, I grabbed quite a few books. Two bags, 26 books total, and $20 later I think I'm set for a while - 3 Ian Fleming James Bond novels, 15 Cussler (3 different series), 2 Robert Ludlum books (and a 3rd coming thanks to another Goodreads giveaway), and a few others that helped fill the bags. This is the fourth or fifth time I've gone to that bookstore, and I think I'm up to 40-50 books from them at under $1/book, all of them in good condition. There's something to be said for finding a good bookstore, if anyone in the Pittsburgh, PA area wants details on it, PM me.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Be careful of Cussler. Anything that is written with another author is generally poor. They are usually by writers who cannot get published on their own, so they cut a deal with Cussler. He gets top billing, and they get published.

Anyway, I started on The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith, or as you might know him, JK Rowling. It's the sequel to The Cuckoo's Calling, and features Cormoran Strike taking a missing persons case that centres on an unpublishable manuscript written by an unstable literary darling of minor infamy that lead to a bloody and brutal murder. It's not for the faint-hearted, though; the manuscript deals with dark and extremely disturbing themes intended as a metaphor for the author's life, and while it is deliberately heavy-handed and overwrought, it's a shock to see Rowling push the boundaries of acceptability (even after you get used to her liberally using words that will be blocked by the censor).

 

[Michael88]

 

[AlvaroF]

After my finals I'll grab Millenium 3 by Stieg Larsson.

 

[photonrider]

I have two or three books that I already want to read next, but I might just give that a try, @photonrider. 👍

Good to know it's a good read, @photonrider. I have that sitting on a bookshelf now .....

It's quite possible you guys will like the book - however, as I've always said: a book is only as good as its reader.
The more you know about spiritualism, gods, mythology, warlock and witchcraft lore, et related al, the more you will enjoy the book.

In fact, USA Today said (and I give you a partial review): " . . . American Gods is strewn with secrets and magical visions. They cast a spell over anyone who has wondered why the world never seems quite the way one thinks it should be. It is powerful and gripping, though its intensity at times can force a reader to stop and say. 'Whew' . . .."

And this happened to me quite often - I'd stop reading and find myself gazing into the distance entranced by a thought he had planted in my head. Fairly racey and picturesque prose at the start, gets engrossing from 25% - 75% of the book, then he lags a bit as he tries to set the stage for the finale, and a slightly lukewarm ending, but still satisfying all around. He has interested me in looking over more of his work, and he did give me a good fiction fix with some facts thrown in.
This is one of the reasons I would devour Michael Crichton - that perfect blend of fact and fiction.

Right now I'm reading:

Concepts of Chemical Dependency (Eighth edition) Harold E Doweiko
God's Universe - Owen Gingerich
The Male Brain - Louann Brizendine, M.D.
The Evolving Brain - R. Grant Steen, PhD.
Asian Wisdom for Effective Management - Low Sui Pheng
Mental Floss (June 2014)
Discover (July/Aug 2014)
Skeptical Inquirer (May/June 2014)
BrainWorld (Summer 2014)

Most of them almost done, some just begun.

 

[fatman_5050]

Be careful of Cussler. Anything that is written with another author is generally poor. They are usually by writers who cannot get published on their own, so they cut a deal with Cussler. He gets top billing, and they get published.

Good to know, thanks. I only have one or two "with" books, and I assumed there would be some differences - similar to the latest of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan books written with another author. I found those to be just a bit off, not terrible but at the same time not like the previous books. Maybe if I read some of the Cussler "with" books before going to far into the bulk of his solo work, the difference won't be as dramatic.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Cussler's early work was his best. There was a marked decline in quality as he kept writing, culminating in the downright ridiculous Valhalla Rising and Trojan Odyssey.

Anyway, I finished off The Silkworm. It addressed many of the issues with The Cuckoo's Calling, making it harder to ideidentify the killer. It still makes the lazy mistake of having characters discuss key bits of evidence in such a way that they're not actually mentioned lest they give away the ending, and even with the clever ending, it's still weird to have JK Rowling describe (indirectly) the rather disturbing content of an unpublishable manuscript.

 

[BobK]

Reading about one of the greatest airplanes that never was:

 

[ExigeEvan]

Currently reading '3 Para', the story of British Paratroopers in Afghanistan.

 

[Rafael F]

I'm reading the Song of Ice and Fire, the second book. It's awesome!

 

[MoLiEG]

The Awakening by L.J. Smith...

It is similar to Twilight, but it's better than that crap, IMO.

 

[Crash]

Just finished Kitchen Confidential from Anthony Bourdain. Some of his insights of the restaurant industry was very interesting, but some of his personal rants were somewhat repetitive after a while.

Not a bad quick read though.

 

[35mm]

Started this:

José Saramago - O Homem Duplicado​

For most of you, it's "The Double". Which was the base and inspiration for the movie "Enemy".

 

[35mm]

Started this yesterday:

Barry Eisler - A Clean Kill In Tokyo​

It somehow grabbed my attention, but I'm not expecting anything surprising. We'll see.


I'll also add that "The Double" was a fantastic book, with a brilliant twist in the end. Can't wait to see the movie "Enemy".

 

[F1GTR]

Read this over the course of a year. I actually read about a hundred or so pages the first time before I dropped it, finished several books (even the whole ASOIAF series), restarted it at around March, gave up, then started it again last month. So worth it. It's a beautiful, confusing mess with one of the best endings I've read in a while.

 

[35mm]

Veronica Roth - Divergent​

Started this two days ago, simply because it always appears as a recommendation to people who liked the The Hunger Games trilogy. I'm not expecting it to be that good, though.

Never seen the movie, either.

 

[TexRex]

 

[F1GTR]

Read two books yesterday:

It was ok, I think I would've enjoyed it much more if I was 17.

Simply wonderful. It's the first Hemmingway novel I've read and I've added a few more of his novels to my list.

I've just started Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera since One Hundred Years of Solitude managed to win me over.

 

[35mm]

Read two books yesterday:

It was ok, I think I would've enjoyed it much more if I was 17.

Simply wonderful. It's the first Hemmingway novel I've read and I've added a few more of his novels to my list.

I've just started Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera since One Hundred Years of Solitude managed to win me over.

Definitely agree with what you say about "The Fault In Our Stars". And the same applies to "Looking for Alaska".

I read the "Old Man And The Sea"... 20 years ago! I'm in shock. Definitely must reread it. 👍

Since you're reading Garcia Marquez, I was wondering if you've ever read Vargas Llosa? I strongly recommend "The Feast of the Goat" (more on the violent and political side) and "Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter" (more on the satirical/funny side).

 

[Danoff]

Oryx and Crake

This is my second time through the book, and I'm enjoying it even more than the first. This is truly among my very favorite books of all time. Everyone should read it... well everyone over a certain age - it has very adult themes. Especially someone with an interest in science and biology... ehem @Famine.

 

[FoolKiller]

@Danoff Added to Audible Wishlist.